thesandspurfandomcom-20200215-history
Editorial Policies
The editorial policies of The Sandspur are determined by the Editorial Board (comprised of the Editor-in-Chief , Production Manager , and Managing Editor with advice from the General Manager and faculty advisor) with the Editor-in-Chief making all final decisions. Editorial Policies are reviewed at the beginning of each school year during fall orientation in the Editorial Board Meeting. Anonymous Articles & Pen Names The Sandspur only accepts work attributed to its writer. The paper will not print in the newspaper or online any content that is from an anonymous author or an author writing under a pen name. Anonymous Sources The Sandspur does not publish stories that include anonymous sources. If an anonymous or unlabeled source is quoted or cited in an article, it is the responsibility of the Copy Editor and Section Editor to immediately contact the writer and the head of their department. In this situation, the writer can choose to name their source, remove that piece of information from the article, or remove the article entirely. If the writer cannot be reached before deadline, it will be at the discretion of the Head Content Editor , with final approval from the Editor-in-Chief , to either remove the section of the article using an anonymous source or remove the article from publication entirely. April Fools Issues & Satire The Sandspur traditionally publishes an April Fool's Issue the day of publication prior to or on April 1 each year. Each April Fool's Issue will include a statement made by the Editor-in-Chief on the second page of the paper stating that the cover and certain content in the issue is supposed to be attributed as satirical or a joke. Any pages using content that is all April Fool’s content should include the following statement at the bottom of the page: : April Fool’s! The content of this page is meant to be read as satire and in no way reflects the opinions of The Sandspur, its staff, or Rollins College. '' Any April Fool’s articles printed on pages with non-April Fool’s Day content, as well as all April Fool’s articles posted online, should have the following statement before or after the article: : ''April Fool’s! The content of this article is meant to be read as satire and in no way reflects the opinions of The Sandspur, its staff, or Rollins College. '' Although ''The Sandspur ''does not have a satire section, it may occasionally print satirical pieces in the opinions section of the paper. All satire pieces in print and online will include the following statement before the article: : ''The content of this article is meant to be read as satire and in no way reflects the opinions of The Sandspur, its staff, or Rollins College. Changing or Deleting Online Content Content printed online at thesandspur.org or on any of The Sandspur's social media accounts can be corrected, similar to a correction in the print paper. Every time an online article is updated or changed, an asterisk (*) must mark the location in the article. At the bottom of the article, the person changing the article should include the date, time, and reason for the change. In the case of multiple corrections, each additional correction should be labeled by an additional asterisk (second correction**). In the case of an incorrect social media post, if the error is caught immediately (under five minute from posting), the original post can be deleted and reposted. If the error is caught after the five-minute mark, a correction post should be posted at the discretion of the Public Relations department depending the type of error. All online content, including archives, are part of The Sandspur. The Sandspur does not remove content from its online archives including stories, photos, columns, editorials, letters to the editor, and comments. Updates or corrections may be added to online content if the material is factually inaccurate or otherwise flawed. Such errors should be brought to the Editor-in-Chief 's attention. If they are documented to his or her satisfaction, The Sandspur will correct the content as listed above. This is at the discretion of The Sandspur's Editor-in-Chief. To make a complaint that content is flawed, contact the Editor-in-Chief at chief@thesandspur.org with the following information: *Name, telephone number, and email address *The URL of the content *An explanation of why the material is inaccurate or should be altered *Reasonable proof of a factual inaccuracy Requests will be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief and his or her decisions should be guided by this policy. When necessary, the Editor-in-Chief should discuss the situation with The Sandspur faculty advisor or attorneys. Columns Columnists are consistent writers who express interest in writing every week on a certain topic. Columns may be written by more than one individual in a rotation schedule, as long as one entry is submitted each week. To create a column, a writer must talk to the Head Content Editor about their central topic. They should bring their first column entry with them to the meeting and ideas for column topics for the following three weeks. The first two weeks of the column will be considered a trial period. Column entries must be 400-700 words in length and be turned in by Friday at 5 p.m. to submit@thesandspur.org. The Sandspur reserves the right to edit columns for grammar and content as necessary, the same as with any other content. A column can be revoked if someone plagiarizes a column or if someone does not submit his or her column on time for more than two weeks without justifiable cause. This is at the discretion of the Head Content Editor and the Editor-in-Chief. Comments on the website The Sandspur is committed to providing a forum for open dialogue and discussion. Comments are moderated before publication to remove spam comments and to remove comments that are against our comment policy. Comments should further the discussion on the article. The Sandspur reserves the right to not publish or delete a comment if it: *attacks an identified person or group *discriminates against a particular group on the basis of gender, religion, disability, ethnicity, or sexual orientation *personally attacks a Sandspur employee or contributor *contains excessive obscenities, sexual explicitness, or threats *could be considered libelous *is obviously written using someone else's name *is completely off-topic or is determined to be spam All comments are also subject to publication in The Sandspur. Corrections in Print Paper The Sandspur will correct facts, author names, and other appropriate content misprinted in the print paper in the following week's issue in a gray "corrections" box on page 2 of the paper. Corrections will be published at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief . Errors can be reported to The Sandspur through an email to staff@thesandspur.org . Editorials At least one editorial will be published each semester by the Editor-in-Chief , Production Manager , or Managing Editor. The appropriate persons who wrote the editorial will be clearly marked as having written the piece. Editorials generally focus on The Sandspur itself and do not make comments on the campus or world community, but this is at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. Letters to the Editor Letters to the editor are accepted from Rollins students, faculty, staff, alumni, Winter Park community members, and people otherwise connected to Rollins. The paper will attempt to publish all letters to the editor in the print paper if possible; all submissions will be posted online. Letters to the editor must be no longer than 200 words. The Sandspur reserves the right to edit for grammar and content. Letters to the editor may be responded to by the Editor-in-Chief. Obscene Words Obscene words will only be published in the print paper if they are absolutely necessary to the content of the piece. Obscene words will never be added to an article during the editing process. Off the Record Comments Some sources may state that they want to keep specific information “off the record,” meaning they will tell the reporter something during an interview that they do not want published. The expression “off the record” is not legally binding, leaving the source to trust the moral or ethical obligations of the journalist. The use of “off the record” quotes is, in the end, up to each journalist. The Sandspur stands that, unless an agreement is made ahead of time for a statement to be “off the record,” the journalist can choose to use, and sometimes should, use a remark, even if the source attempts to take back a prior remark or make a remark “off the record” after they have stated it. If someone says what they really think in an on-the-record interview, readers have a right to know. However, if a source and journalist do come into an agreement before a discussion or before a certain part of a discussion for the next topic to be “off the record,” ethically, the journalist should not use the remarks in an interview (though that remark can be used to pursue further information or sources). However, this decision is ultimately up to each reporter. Opinion Articles Writers can choose to send in opinion articles. These articles must be 400-700 words in length. The Sandspur reserves the right to edit opinions articles for grammar and content. All pages containing opinion content as well as all online opinion articles should include the following statement at the bottom of the page or article: : The content of this article/page in no way reflects the opinions of The Sandspur, its staff, or Rollins College. Plagiarism The Sandspur ''does not accept plagiarized work. If a freelance writer sends in plagiarized content, the Head Copy Editor or Head Content Editor will immediately email the person to make them aware of the incident and that plagiarism is not allowed. If it happens again, ''The Sandspur will no longer accept content from that individual. If a staff member purposely plagiarizes any type of content, they will be let go from their position. If The Sandspur accidentally publishes plagiarized content, a correction will be placed in the following issue apologizing and stating the correct source of the content. Publishing Articles All letters, columns, stories, photos, art, videos, and other content become the legal property of The Sandspur upon submission to the paper unless otherwise stipulated or negotiated by the author prior to submission. Submissions can never be revoked. While The Sandspur owns all content, the author of the work does have the permission of the paper to reprint their work elsewhere. The Sandspur will accept work that has been published elsewhere as long as the author has permission to republish the work in another publication. If The Sandspur chooses to publish this type of work, however, The Sandspur will not pay the contributor for it. Recording Interviews In the state of Florida, reporters may only record an interview if they either (1) have the express consent of the person or people they are interviewing (including telephone interviews) or (2) are interviewing someone in a public place where the interview might reasonably be overheard (such as a speech made by a politician). These laws are felonies that can result in criminal and civil charges. Therefore, to alleviate reporters and The Sandspur from potential criminal charges, when recording an in-person, telephone, or online Skype-interview, all writers must have the person or people being interviewed sign a copy of the recording form provided below. Right to Edit The Sandspur reserves the right to edit all content including letters, columns, stories, photos, art, and videos before publication for grammar, style, and content. Sources For all news, features, and sports stories, articles should include at least one quote per 400 words. All facts must be cited in every article. If sources cannot be found or are not labeled, the content will be cut from the story or the story will not be published. Sources Seeing Article Before Publication The Sandspur recommends that reporters do not send sources the full article before publication, though this decision is ultimately up to the writer. Submission Policies The Sandspur does not accept slander, libel, or plagiarism. All articles must be written in English and no literature or fictional pieces will be accepted unless specifically requested for a special issue. All writing must be coherent, backed up with sources (with at least one quote per 400 words for news, features, and sports stories), and follow journalistic models. All writing must be 400-700 words unless an exception is made ahead of time. All articles must be submitted by 5 p.m. to submit@thesandspur.org the Friday of the week before publication. The deadline can be extended in emergencies or in special cases by emailing the Head Content Editor and the Production Manager by 5 p.m. on Thursday. Content is accepted from Rollins students, staff, faculty, and alumni; Winter Park community members; and anyone affiliated with Rollins College. Writers will be contacted by the Managing Editor if their articles are or are not being printed. Articles may be saved for future issues, but if they are saved, they will be printed sometime that school year in print or online. If a writer would like to improve their writing to be published in the paper, they can email the Writing Consultant at staff@thesandspur.org .